


Exchange

by aligator4508



Series: Random Bunnies [2]
Category: Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984), Voltron: Legendary Defender, Voltron: Lion Voltron
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 12:39:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14261169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aligator4508/pseuds/aligator4508
Summary: Keith, Allura and Lance are separated from the others after an ally turns on them. Will they be rescued and does Keith have it in him to become the leader he is but doesn't realize it yet. (Simple yet effective summary)





	Exchange

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I haven't posted a story in SOOO long LOL... Almost forgot how to. My apologies to those that have read my stuff for my forced semi retirement period, I never actually left just kinda lurked for several years. 
> 
> With the new Voltron reboot, I was excited to watch because I grew up with the orginal 80's classic Votron DotU. My fellow Voltron fans will remember me as Aligator and I hope to reconnect *waves* (Hey Jules)
> 
> With that... I have a few warnings besides the I DO NOT OWN VOLTRON usual speel. If you have already read some of my stuff, you know the drill... I am rather painstakingly descriptive on story aspects and I don't really get shy. There will be violence, profanity and of course sex at some point. I rate everything I write E. I am a STRONG Keith Allura (Kallura) shipper and I'm too damn old to change. I realize that there are several other ideas out there and I will not argue with those. I feel everyone should have their own opinions. Having said that, if you don't like the content, then read something else. That's what I do anyhow lol
> 
> As always, I love you all and if you leave comments, kudos or messages, I will respond. Ok... Let's see how rusty I am...

**Part One:**

_There's something wrong with Shiro..._

 

"I told y'all he was trouble!" Lance cried in his I told you so voice from his red lion cockpit. He looked directly at the fleet of warships in front of him. "But nooo... No one listens to ole Lancey Lance... I saw what Lotor was the second we laid eyes on him... He's something alright... but he ain't no prince." He bit out his words with distain, knowing his fellow paladins would know he was more than a little pissed off at how often they blew him off as being just a goofball. He went quiet for a second, pausing for the dramatic affect, as the passenger riding with him rolled his eyes gritting his teeth. "Next time you guys might actually listen, especially since I'm NEVER wrong." The other four paladins in their lions could hear the smirk in his voice.

Keith, the red lion's former paladin, was seething by this point, smacked his frienemy on the back of his head... Hard enough for Lance to know he wasn't playing around but not so hard that it would cause Red's current pilot to take as an invitation to actually swing back at him.

"Would ya knock it off and get me close enough to get in that thing!" Keith cried nearly growling. His irritation rising more because of Lance's ability to go from joking to serious without any lag between the two emotions.

"Hey asshole, you're supposed to be hitting them, not me!" Lance exclaimed, a spark of aggravation crossing his blue eyes as the Galra armada began it's second round of open fire. The lion shook horribly hard and Keith went flying against the cockpit's back wall. "Now look, you distracted me and we took a direct hit." Lance grounded out, trying to refocus his energy at the task in front of him.

Lance could tell something was definitely different in the way the hits from the enemy Galra ships were connecting... he had to assume that Lotor had somehow been able to use some of the information he was able to steal by pretending to be an their ally, not to mention the yellowish gold colored quintessence Allura had come across soon after her encounter with the white lion.

He swallowed his thoughts hard, it wasn't the time for questions or reflection. He knew Keith had to get aboard and steal whatever was left of it back... He wasn't too fond of the plan the Blades and the rest of the team had come up with though. This new quintessence oozed energy and had the capability of amplifying different weaponry to advance its power to destroy. It reminded Lance of a sun in a way he couldn't explain.

"That wouldn't be a problem if you knew how to fly Red right!" Keith yelled at him as he got up, jolting Lance back to reality from his train of thought.

"You take that back you emo slime-ball.." He countered back towards the former red paladin, then turned straight ahead patting the red lion's controls in front of him. "He didn't mean that Red... he isn't around all the time anymore to take care of you like I do..."

Keith rolled his eyes. "Slime-ball huh? That's the best insult your special brain can come up with...?" Keith almost laughed and would have under any other circumstance. "You know as well as I do, this lion wouldn't be yours if I hadn't handed him to you!" Keith growled.

"In case you forgot Blade... You walked out and he chose me fair and square! You are not the red paladin anymore, I AM! If you want this lion and Bayard back you'll need help from one of the other's lions to pry it from my cold dead hands!!!" Lance screamed harshly at Keith.

"Oh I'm pretty sure that can be arranged!" Keith yelled back at him. "Especially the way you operate Red!"

The voice of reason came through static as Princess Allura popped on screen to Lance's left.

"CHILDREN!!! You two are behaving like CHILDREN!!!" The beautiful young princess's patience was held by a thread. The anger and fear could be heard in her words. "We're supposed to be fighting the Galra not each other!" Her voice was shaky at best and both boys felt instantly guilty.

Facing forward the two young men renewed their resolve... stupid shit would have to wait... at least they agreed on that.

"Shiro," Keith called, suddenly feeling like something was off. Shiro would have stopped that kind of bull shit during battle before it even started... yet still nothing came from the black lion's cockpit, giving the two inside the red lion an eerie lonely feeling.

There was more crackles of static through the airwaves and a pause causing a twinge of even more apprehension to build up in both Keith and Lance.

"I'm here, Keith." Shiro weakly answered finally, having not said a word throughout the whole exchange in the arm of the robot he was now supposed to be leading.

"Are you hurt, you've been awfully quiet..." Keith questioned a bit skeptical and worried as he pulled the hood of his cloak over his head awaiting Shiro to tell him what to do next.

"Just thinking..." Shiro replied softly, something strange and off to his tone.

Keith and Lance eyeballed each other with confusion. "Thinking... Thinkin' bout what?" Lance inquired rashly. "How to get Voltron's right arm torn off because the pilot has an immature passenger wanting to argue..." Sarcasm probably wasn't the way to go at this point, but it was the best Lance had right now. His mind nagged at him about the time he saw Shiro in the astral plane with the lions... Keith hadn't been there so he wouldn't have caught it, but Lance was and he wasn't as brainless as pretended to be.

"You want to get ejected out the wind shield, don't you?" Keith opposed before Lance was able to catch his eyes.

Lance threw Keith a suspicious look then head gestured to his left at the invisible side panel where Shiro's face should be appearing over the screen.

Red Lion shook, feeling as if it could be pulled to pieces at any second and Shiro's reply was cutting in and out. They couldn't make out most of anything he was saying along with the voices of the three other paladins, Pidge, Hunk and Princess Allura.

The two were positive they heard two words clearly, malfunction and sword... and there is no good coming in a situation where those two words are paired together, let alone not being able to tell who was trying to communicate them. One look in front of them, out Red's holographic eyes told them enough to create some kind of educated guess that something wasn't right. The main ship's weapon was charging up and almost ready to fire.

Staring at the large glowing gun aimed at the robot defender, both former and current red paladins felt it this time, something was more than off...

"Something's up with Shiro man..." Lance said softly trying to lessen the blow of his words to Keith, while at the same time trying to get his point across.

Like it or not, Lance knew this wasn't the time for him to be riling up his teammate. He wouldn't admit it out loud but he really did care about Keith, even saw him as a brother. Sure he was always trying to one up him but what was a little rivalry between friends and or siblings? It made things fun at times and was healthy even... and maybe even bonding in its own way. He had seen Keith as someone to look up to and aspired to someday be equal to in skill level since his first year at the Garrison. He knew down deep he was getting there, even more so since he was able to get his red Bayard to turn not only into his usual series of guns but the Altean broad sword that Allura had pointed out. He had managed to call for it several more times in training and he was very happy with himself for that, even though he was yet to be able to use it in a real fight... He may tease Keith relentlessly and constantly try to one up him but he was smart enough to know when to back off. They worked very well together, each having certain skills that complimented the other's. He also knew that the way they challenged each other tended to be positive for the team. The constant cheap shots and sparring together was raising their skill level, each wanting to top the other actually served a purpose, much to the comedic annoyance of the rest of the team... He liked making people laugh, and lately it was a much needed skill. Laughing eased the tension that was ever constant during the fight with the Galra.  
  
This wasn't the time to be kidding around though, Lance knew that all too well having learned the hard way over the past two years after taking over as Red's paladin.

Keith had heard him... and he fought the urge to tell Lance he was full of shit... He felt it too, no matter how he looked at it... There was some kind of truth behind Lance's words and Keith hated that he was actually starting to doubt Shiro, something he had never done before. Whether he liked or not, he could still feel his connection with Black even after going with the Blades and not piloting him since Shiro was able to come back. It scared him that there was still a link for what ever reason. With Shiro back, Voltron didn't need him... or so he tried to tell himself. He stared blankly for a second, trying to put his racing thoughts in order inside his head. Something was very wrong with Black... He could sense it... he may have only been Black's paladin for a short time but apparently lion bonds were stronger than he imagined. A tightness just behind his belly button, a feeling not unlike being on a constant rollercoaster engulfed him.

As he watched the newest ion canon pause fully charged... his mind kept coming back to the one single explanation that made any form of sense...

How could Shiro just be sitting there doing nothing? After seeing the information Allura had managed to extract from what little of that gold quintessence they were able to aquire to study, Keith had no reservations that a dead on point blank blast of the magnitude it was capable of, not one of them would live through a direct hit. Heavily he weighed his options and took a mind clearing breath.

_*Patience yields focus...*_

"Keith..."

He snapped out of his thoughts grounding himself.

"Come on man... stop thinking about your boyfriend and snap out of it before it gets us all killed! There is definitely something a matter with Shiro, Keith... You gotta hear me, I need your help buddy.... Keith... KEITH!" The tone in Lance's voice was almost a plea. "I can't save us all without you... COME ON buddy... el Capitan, amigo, pal... Mi hermano..." Pausing, he added, "Brother..."

"I know..." Keith answered him in a voice just above a whisper.

"All communication to the black lion and Shiro is cut... Keith... He isn't responding. I'm not Pidge but if my calculation is correct we got maybe half a dobosh before that over sized gun shoots us into the second Tuesday of last week." He tapped his chin and a small grin formed. He really couldn't help himself sometimes. "That new canon is bigger than the one his dad had... me thinks Lotor maybe trying to compensate for something... Am I right..."

Keith ignored Lance's quip. He appreciated what Lance was trying to do but he was both out of time and not in any mood to deal with his teammate's constant and crude innuendos.

"Has Pidge, Hunk or Allura tried to contact us at all?" Keith asked as another jolt sent them all flying though the air again like a ragdoll.

"Nothing from Pidge or Hunk, I have heard Allura trying to reach us but she's all broken up and static-y."

Keith hit his fist against the controls involutarily and Red let out an angry roar reflecting how the paladins inside were feeling.

"Easy Red.. Easy..." Keith tried to soothe as Red's temper flared.

Finally after what seemed like eternity, Keith looked from the mess in front of him and turned at his waist towards Lance. "I'm gonna hafto go out there and check if everyone's ok..."

"HUH...??? You DON'T mean like physically right cuz that's just askin for an blast up the ass..." Lance was at a loss for words.

He couldn't have heard Keith right... That was suicide...

"Shut up and trust me..."

"Nuh uh, Keith we're a team... you may not technically be a current pilot, but you're still a paladin, Blade of Marmora mercenary or not, it means nothing. I almost bought his bull shit too..." He admited sullenly, looking downward at his feet. He fisted his had with new resolve breathing out. "It's my fault too that Lotor was able to get his hands on that gold quintet crap and is now able to make weapons strong enough to put a hole the size of Australia straight through a star, let alone us. You don't get to play martyr..."

A small smile formed on his face and his eyes softened a little as he looked at his friend. He had to hand it to Lance, he was at least trying to sound courageous.

He swallowed hard, his throat dry, searching Lance's body language, looking for any crack in his friend's armor. He appreciated his friend for being concerned, so he soften his features for a second.

He gave a quick smirk for Lance's benefit. "I'd put money on it."

Lance arched an eyebrow at his friend's expression. "Money on what...?"

Keith groaned momentarily wondering why he even bothered when it came to even trying to show Lance his respect. Blowing out the slight aggravation, he tried again.

"What you just said... him over compensating..." Keith replied in a leading voice activating his face mask before he lost his nerve.

"Oh... oooooh..." Lance's eyes went wide as realizing Keith had joked back. He never had been the brightest crayon in the box."You meant junk size right cuz that's what I was meaning... probably smaller than those little smoky sausages from back home..." He allowed himself to laugh at his words briefly, then readied his game face.

"Why do I bother..." Keith face palmed himself, losing confidence by the second but as if Lance had some kind of switch to turn himself off and on, he watched as his friend straightened up and the goofiness vanished from his features.

"Are we doing this or what..." Lance asked in a level voice giving no hint of his goofball personality.

Keith nodded... "We can't assume Shiro's ok up there. We can only hope he's still alive." Keith took a deep breath as seconds ticked down and he watched the ion canon in the final stage of it's power up. The smaller guns also had the new golden quintessence treatment, and with each hit, it felt like Voltron was being kicked around like a soccer ball.. Keith held on to the side of Lance's chair as Red rattle yet again threatening to tear apart.

"What's the plan then Keith.." Lance was able to keep his voice even but there was no hiding the uncertainty in his eyes as he looked up at the ion canon fully charged now and beginning to gather the energy into the middle for one solid blast.

"Keep Red steady, I'm going after Allura."

Lance blinked in slight confusion. "Allura... Thought you were worried about Shiro."

Keith's answer came quicker than Lance expected and actually made more sense.

"Shiro's a big boy, he can take care of himself. As much as I hate it... this time he'll have to." He shook his head, feeling the weight of his decision. "Allura doesn't realize how valuable she truly is. None of us have any knowledge of what that stuff is powering up those weapons... I... I don't know if just us can fight it."

Lance nodded as he realized he already knew what Keith meant. "That sounded like something Shiro would say..." He taunted watching Keith's expression as he went quiet. Seeing the pause in Keith's demeanor he switched tactics. He always had known how to set a fire under Keith's ass. Sometimes, even a fearless leader needed provoked and Lance was very good at poking sticks at sleeping lions. And... honestly it was too easy... Lance simply couldn't help himself. "Ooooh... going to save your girlfriend then..." He teased, as he batted his, making a duck face and kissing noises at him.

Keith was tempted to smack him again upside his head but blew it off. Not the time or place to be anything but serious, deciding to save it for later...

If there is a later...His face hardened with the thought, then shook it off as soon as it came. He had no time to doubt himself.

He stepped behind Lance and got into position so that the lift could raise him up and then out onto the top of Red's head. The idea was easier thought up than it would be to execute and Lance remained at the controls keeping the lion steady best he could.

"Ready?" Lance asked.

"Ready..." Keith answered.

Lance pushed the control button and heard the lift start to asend upwards with Kieth on it.  
He locked his eyes on the fleet in front of him, noting the pause in the open fire. Red started to shake once again as if being hit by a landslide of boulders.

"Don't get dead out there." Lance replied soberly. "I will kill you if you die... Just sayin."

Keith nodded but didn't answer back. Watching the hatch to the outside start to open slowly, he tried to chase the apprehension away from his thoughts. He could see the blackness that imitated what should be the sky on the dark side of the moon they were fighting near. His head peaked out the small exit and he noticed that Voltron had somehow ended up crashing against some kind of rocky cliff on the surface of said foreign moon.

He started to pull himself up and out of Red, turning to see Lotor's quintessance enhanced armada hovering in front of them. Grateful for the small reprieve in the barrage of fire, he surveyed the position Voltron rested in, discovering Blue would be the easiest to get to. Climbing out and over to where Red rested against the body of Black, he grabbed on to a part of Black to get his footing and balance before scaling down Voltron's body.

His hand touching Black, he paused hoping that just maybe Black could hear him and maybe be able to help ...

Suddenly, a voice echoed out of nowhere, taking Keith out of his task. He swiftly turned towards the voice, recognizing it to be coming from none other than Lotor...

"My young paladins of Voltron and of course you my fairest princess... don't you think it would have just been simpler to have just stayed allies? I want the same thing you do... Peace and prosperity for my people of course but even more importantly we could have studied the different types of quintessance together, forging a valid alliance at the same time. I am giving you a chance to reconsider... It doesn't seem very hospitable to destroy something that your future wife holds dear..."

Keith watched in horror as the gun glowed a bright yellow and orange, ready to fire at Lotor's command. They were sitting ducks if he didn't do something fast. Again he placed his hand on Black, closing his eyes to concentrate as Lotor continued to monologue about having the gold quintessance. As Lotor started to reason that a marriage between him and Allura would be the best diplomatic action, Keith found himself almost panicking when the weight of those words registered.

He can't have her, Black... I have to save her from him... Help me... PLEASE BLACK, hear me. Help me save Alfor's daughter! He cried in his head, having no clue where his sudden need to protect the princess was coming from. He couldn't question his motives or intentions as he could feel his wet cheeks, realizing they were his own tears, he glanced up at Voltron's head. He could see something in the eyes, not understanding what was happening, he darted his own down to where his hand touched the body of Black.

"Shiro!?" He cried almost excited but that soon deflated when some how Black let him know Shiro was out cold and had been for some time. He shot a look back at the massive fighter ships ready to fire on them and once destroyed there would be no protection for Allura. Lotor would be unstoppable if he acquired both more quintessance AND Allura. It was hard telling how many different types of that shit there is out there... before finding Blue on Earth, he hadn't even heard of the stuff. With Allura and her alchemy however, he'd have control over all of it. That was just one advantage he'd have over anyone that apposed the way he governed, if he were somehow able to acquire Allura, let alone what other twisted things he could come up with.

With one last effort, knowing that Lotor would shut up and start his attack again at any point, he placed both hands on Black's body. "Please Black tell me what to do... HELP us!"

He felt it in his hands first, a warmth not quite hot and burning but in its way reminiscent of fire under his skin. It radiated out of Black and through his fingers. Once it engulfed his body, he saw flashes pop into his head like a flip book. He was unsure of what he was seeing but in the instant he heard Lotor's voice tell them time was up and what seemed to sound like Black's roar bouncing around in his head. He couldn't just stand there doing nothing. He turned back towards the hatch at the top of Red's head. It was like slow motion when his hands left Black's body and he raced towards the open entrance to jump back into the right arm of Voltron.

Lance was stunned when Keith landed in a couched position and used the momentum from the landing to jump to Lance's side. The controls were lit up and Keith ordered Lance to move from Red's pilot seat.

"LANCE!!!" He yelled in a rushed tone. "You gotta move! I know what to do..." Keith hurried out his words and Lance did as he was told without one complaint or question.

"Red's power just flipped on Keith... Did you do that... You didn't hotwire Black to send power to all the lions so we can get out of here or something... Did you" Lance questioned keeping one eye focused on the weapon in front of them as the gold canon began to build up yellow energy to start fire.

Keith didn't understand how or why he knew what to do but in that moment touching Black, one of the images in his head told him what needed to be done. He grabbed Red's controls and closed his eyes trying to connect to Black once more.

"I'm only going to have one shot at this." Keith explained. "Once we're separated in to lions, I need you to make sure everyone gets to the castle. He won't attack the castle with that thing... He needs Allura and doesn't know she's in Blue right now. He thinks it's you..."

"What the quiznak..." Lance responded back.

"Just shut up and trust me already would ya." Keith closed his eyes and concentrated on the task at hand.

Lance could see Keith's hands start to glow. "You're controlling Black from here..." He replied with amazement.

"Just promise you'll get the lions back to the castle if something happens to me." With that, all of Keith's energy focused on the controls.

"I got you..." He promised feeling Voltron start to move as if getting up from the ground where he fell.

Just as Keith got Voltron off the ground, he used all his strength to get the defender airborne while Lance watched, his jaw dropping in astonishment as he felt Red detach from the robot. He heard the horrible boom from the Galra weapon firing and with no time to think, he braced himself for the hit, there was an odd sensation of free falling and a short sudden stop in mid air.

When the blast didn't connect, he opened one eye and would have kissed Keith if he swang that way. The Castle of Lions had locked onto them with a tractor beam and was slowly pulling each lion up to safety.

"YOU DID IT KEITH!!! YOU SAVED US!!!" Lance cried throwing himself at Keith in a hug. Keith's body went slack and Lance helped his friend to the ground, then quickly grabbed Red's controls so if something further went wrong, he was at least in a position to do something.

He held in his panic as he watched Blue start going offline again and the connection the castle had to Blue started to break up. Determined to keep his promise, he focused, flipping Red over in one fluid motion, feeling Red's jaws clamp onto Blues front paw.

He took a deep breath, once he knew he had Blue and that they were both still being pulled towards the castle. Looking down, he almost laughed when he realized he hadn't put on his safety harness.

Just as he strapped himself in a flash flew across his front screen... "What the Fuck was that!" Lance cried out but before he could react, Red was hit...

Even though the second shot of the quintessance powered weapon was not even half of what the first blast was, Red went into a vomit inducing spin and hurled hard in the opposite direction of safety. Out of the corner of his eye, he had seen the castle's air locked doors opening for Black, yellow and green lions but had no eye on Blue. He had no chance to question where the princess was before Red was sucked into darkness. The more Lance fought to hold the controls, the faster he felt the lion spinning out of control. He refused to let go without a fight, the harder he tried though, the worse it seemed to get. He felt Red pulled further and further away and once Red began passing through some kind of magnetic field, he couldn't keep himself conscious. His eyes close with extreme protest.

The last thing he could remember before being overwhelmed with exhaustion was how much he hoped that his friends were safe.

  
Next- Part two- Apagoto 4508

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> ***UPDATE 12/14/18***   
> Currently on hiatus and placed in a series collection of works that may or may not turn into full on multi chapter fics. Whether in combination or use of ideas within the fics placed in this collection series. Thanks for reading and please continue to do so, your support means worlds to me. I will continue to write and hopefully something great and fun will come of it. Unfortunately, other fics have been completely deleted or placed on permanent hiatus until further notice. Sorry for that, the ones with the most positive responses are staying up as they are but I have deleted several that even I cringed when reading.
> 
> Luv, Hugs and Prayers  
> Aligator4508
> 
> 4/10/18- Due to circumstances that were no where near under my control, my laptop is shot as of last night as is my Android phone. And although I now have a sweet ass full sized laptop, all my notes and outlines are not attainable due to the incompatibility with Google play store apps. Give me a bit to recover them and I'll have part two up ASAP. I had promised myself to update at least once a week. So I do hope you'll forgive me. Thanks for the support... I love you guys. I'll post more as soon as I can.
> 
> Luv  
> Aligatior...  
> You can get me at aligator1126@gmail.com any time- for questions, answers or just chat intentionally =D


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